THE  JAMES  K.  MOFFITT   FUND. 


LIBRARY  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


GIFT    OF 

JAMES    KENNEDY   MOFFITT 

OF  THE   CLASS   OF  '86. 


Accession  No.  1  06599      Class  No. 


VOL.   i.]  [Modern  Science  Essayist,  [No.  i. 

JAN.  15,  1889. 


Herbert  Spencer. 


His    LIFE,   WRITINGS,   AND    PHILOSOPHY. 


*~ 

DANIEL   GREENLEAF   THOMPSON, 

AUTHOR  OF  "A  SYSTEM  OF  PSYCHOLOGY,"  "THE  PROBLEM  OF  EVIL, 
"THE  RELIGIOUS  SENTIMENTS  OF  THE  HUMAN  MIND,"  ETC. 


BOSTON : 

GEORGE   II.  ELLIS,  PUBLISHER, 
141  FRANK  LI. v  STREET. 


Fortnightly,  $2.60  a  year.  Single  number,   10  cents. 

Entered  at  Post-office,  Boston,  for  mailing  at  second-class  postal  rates. 


MOFFITT 


COLLATERAL    READINGS    SUGGESTED 
IN   CONNECTION   WITH   ESSAY   I. 

Biographical  Sketch  of  Herbert  Spencer,  by  Professor  E.  L. 
Youmans  (in  Popular  Science  Monthly,  March,  1876);  JEssays  on 
Spencer,  in  Popular  Science  Monthly,  November,  1874,  and  North 
American  Review,  October,  1879,  by  Professor  Youmans;-  fencer's 
Reconciliation  of  Religion  and  Science,  by  Professor  Youmans  (in 
Christian  Examiner,  May,  1862);  Spencer's  Education,  Study  of  So- 
ciology, Essays,  and  Recent  Discussions. 


HERBERT    SPENCER.* 


As  THE  world  grows  older  it  knows  more  about  its  great- 
est men  and  finds  them  out  quicker ;  but  in  order  to  be  no- 
ticed it  is  necessary  for  them  to  be  greater  than  in  former 
times.  The  idea  that  men  of  long  ago  were  of  superior 
mould  and  larger  intellectual  stature  than  those  of  to-day 
is  a  false  one,  though  useful,  no  doubt,  to  sustain  the  doc- 
trine of  a  lapse  from  an  originally  perfect  state.  Those 
sentiments  which  have  given  rise  to  and  supported  the 
theory  of  monarchical  sovereignty  made  demigods  of  mil- 
itary chieftains,  of  kings  and  emperors,  and  endowed  them, 
in  the  minds  of  people  generally,  with  all  the  virtues  which 
tlicy  did  not  possess  but  which  seemed  to  be  necessary  to  a 
properly  equipped  great  man.  The  same  method  has  per- 
vaded the  world  of  study  and  of  letters.  Plato  and  Aris- 
totle have  been  esteemed  much  greater  men  than  any  of  our 
degenerate  times,  and  there  has  been,  and  still  is,  a  mysti- 
cal value  attached  to  their  least  words. 

Without  disparaging  these  really  worthy  Greeks,  who 
would  be  considered  good  philosophers,  as  philosophers  go 
in  our  time,  and  who,  it  must  be  remembered,  were  far  bet- 
ter than  they  used  to  run  in  earlier  days,  I  do  not  hesitate 
to  aver  that  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  for  instance,  is  much 
greater  than  either  of  them.  Nor  would  I  say  it  of  him 
alone,  but  also  of  many  others,  who  are  not  as  prominent. 
The  general  level  of  intellectual  power  is  so  far  raised  in 
modern  times  that  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  for  any  one 
mail  to  become  pre-eminent  among  his  fellows.  His  lim- 
itations are  more  accurately  measured,  his  weaknesses  are 
detected,  and  he  has  none  of  the  divine  halo  about  his  head 
that  used  to  awe  people  into  adoration  and  out  of  criticism. 
Believe  me,  the  modern  way  is  the  best.  These  are  more 
fortunate  times,  when  we  see  Carlyle's  "  Great  Man "  cer- 
tainly disappearing  from  the  earth  and  soon  to  share  the 
fate  of  the  mastodon  and  the  mammoth.  True  greatness 

*  COPYIUGHT,  by  D.  G.  Thompson,  1888. 


106599 


4  Herbert  Spencer, 

will  be  a  natural,  not  a  supernatural,  greatness.  Those  be- 
low will  be  raised  up,  and  the  model  man  of  the  future  will 
be  he  who  walks  modestly  among  his  fellows,  claiming 
nothing  and  needing  to.  claim  nothing,  because  his  intellect, 
his  character,  his  deeds  shine  in  their  true  light,  neither  ob- 
scured nor  artificially  heightened.  And  of  such  there  will 
be  many. 

It  is  still  hard  for  merit  to  obtain  recognition ;  but  if  a 
man  does  good  work,  and  chances  to  live  in  one  of  the  most 
enlightened  countries  of  the  world,  he  will  probably  be 
found  out  before  he  dies.  Mr.  Spencer  had  a  long  struggle 
before  much  attention  was  paid  fohim,  but  at  length  his 
reward  came.  One  great  difficulty  in  his  case  was  the  lack 
of  a  thorough  academical  education.  By  no  means  the 
least  of  the  advantages  of  a  collegiate  or  university  course 
is  that  the  student  is  admitted  into  a  society  of  scholars, 
who  will  form  the  intellectual  aristocracy  of  their  genera- 
tion. He  who  joins  them  becomes  known  to  the  others,  is 
established  as  a  member  of  the  guild,  and  wears  his  badge 
to  the  end  of  life.  Both  recognition  and  honor  come  to  him 
more  easily,  by  virtue  of  his  membership,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  advantages  of  the  courses  of  study  and  discipline  in 
themselves.  At  the  age  of  thirteen  Herbert  Spencer  went 
to  live  with  his  uncle,  the  Eev.  Thomas  Spencer,  Eector  of 
Hinton,  who  was  a  graduate  of  Cambridge.  The  uncle 
wished  Herbert  to  prepare  for  the  university,  but  the  latter 
was  obstinate  and  refused.  Prof.  Youmans  remarks  that 
the  uncle  lived  to  acknowledge  that  Herbert  probably  took 
the  right  view  of  the  matter.  I  do  not  think  he  did.  Mr. 
Spencer's  thoughts  and  writings  seem  to  me  to  show  their 
main  deficiency  in  precisely  those  things  which  a  university 
training  would  have  supplied.  Many  of  his  friends,  how- 
ever,  it  is  fair  to  state, — believe  that  a  university  train- 
ing was  incompatible  with  the  traits  on  which  the  develop- 
ment of  his  philosophy  depended.  ^ 

Herbert  arpn™"=- wfl*  bom  in  DeJ&£^L£ril  27, 1820.  His 
father  and  grandfather  were  teachers,  and  Herbert,  at  three 
years  of  age,  was  the  only  surviving  child.  He  did  not 
learn  to  read  until  seven.  He  was  delicate  in  health,  and 
was  not  pressed.  When  he  did  go  to  school,  he  was  not 
brilliant.  Prof.  Youmans  says  of  him  that  "  he  was  charac- 
terized as  backward  in  things  requiring  memory  and  recita- 
tion, but  as  in  advance  of  the  rest  in  intelligence."  He 


Herbert  Spen <•<•/•.  5 

never  got  along  well^with_languages,  but  was  excellent  in 
geometry,  in  physics,  and  in  drawing,  T)oth  mechanical  and 
free-hand.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  taught  school  for  three 
months,  'with  good  success.  Immediately  after  this,  he  en- 
tered upon  a  year's  engagement  under  Sir  Charles  Fox,  then 
engineer  for  the  construction  of  the  London  and  Birming- 
ham Railway.  This  was  succeeded  by  eighteen  months' 
similar  service  in  connection  with  the  Birmingham  and 
Gloucester  Railway.  From  1841  to  1850  he  was  occupied 
with  private  studies ;  now  and  then  with  engineering  engage- 
ments, to  some  extent  upon  mechanical  inventions,  in  one 
or  two  political  movements,  in  the  writing  and  publication 
of  various  papers,  and  finally  as  sub-editor  of  the  Economist. 
In  1850  he  published  "  Social  Statics,"  his  first  important 
work,  but  one  with  which  he  was  so  much  dissatisfied  after- 
,  ward  that  he  tried  to  suppress  it. 

From  1850  to  1855,  a  number  of  essays  were  completed, 
—"The  Theory  of  Population,"  "The  Development  Hy- 
pothesis," "  Over-Legislation,"  "  The  Universal  Postulate," 
and  others.  In  1855  the  "  Principles  of  Psychology  "  was 
finished,  and  it  was  in  the  writing  of  this  that  the  author 
arrived  at  the  conviction  that  the  law  of  evolution  was  uni- 
versal in  its  applications.  The  labor  of  preparing  the  Psy- 
chology, carried  on  without  due  attention  to  hygienic  rules 
as  to  diet  and  exercise,  was  sufficient  to  break  down  his 
health.  His  nervous  system  was  so  disordered  that  he 
could  do  no  work  for  eighteen  months.  This,  however,  did 
not  prevent  his  active  mind  from  elaborating  a  scheme 
which  grew  more  definite  day  by  day.  He  came  to  believe 
that  the  law  of  evolution  should  be  made  the  basis  of  phi- 
lo.sophy,  and  to  devise  the  plan  of  a  system  established 
thereon.  As  his  health  improved,  he  prepared  to  devote 
his  entire  life  to  such  a  work,  and  in  1860  he  published  the 
prospectus  of  his  philosophical  system,  as  we  have  it  to-day, 
laying  out  a  task  of  twenty  years,  which  ill-health  has  pro- 
longed to  the  present  time  and  w4uoh-ie-strH:  unfinished. 

If  to  what  has  been  said  we  add  that  Mr.  Spencer,  while 
engaged  in  his  great  work,  has  lived  a  quiet  life  in  London, 
with  occasional  vacations,  often  on  account  of  illness,  dur- 
ing one  of  which  he  made  a  trip  to  Egypt  and  during 
another  a  voyage  to  America,  we  shall  have  substantially 
his  biography  —  the  uneventful  existence  of  a  student  who 
saw  what  was  in  him  to  do,  planned  his  course,  and  fol- 


6  Herbert 

lowed  it  steadily  to  the  exclusion  of  everything  else.  i-The 
history  of  his  personal  life  may  be  told  in  a  paragraph ;  but 
who  shall  write  the  history  of  his  books  ?  Who  can 
measure  the  influence  they  have  already  exercised  upon  hu- 
man thought  and  action,  and  who  will  venture  to  predict 
the  limit  of  their  power  ?  j 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  perhaps,  that  social  advance- 
ment involves  antagonisms,  since  the  whole  process  of  ev- 
olution throughout  nature  is  one  of  action  and  resistance. 
This  is  a  law  of  social  as  well  as  physical  existence.  But 
it  does  seem  a  little  remarkable  that,  where  antagonism  oc- 
curs, the  interest  of  men  is  aroused  in  proportion  to  its  vio- 
lence. They  are  a  great  deal  more  observant  of  destruction 
than  of  constructive  results.  The  lightning  and  thunder 
command  attention,  while  the  sun  which  is  the  life  of  all, 
sustaining  all  things,  and  upon  which  evolution  for  our 
planet  is  dependent,  is  scarcely  considered.  The  "war- 
lord," who  distinguishes  himself  by  killing  his  fellows, 
and  shows  prowess  in  battle,  is  the  prominent  figure 
in  what  is  called  history,  while  he  who  has  moulded  the 
opinions  and  conduct  of  men  occupies  an  inferior  po- 
sition. Even  in  the  life  of  a  scholar  like  Mr.  Spencer, 
it  is  his  collisions  with  other  people,  prominent  repre- 
sentatives of  other  schools,  that  make  his  reputation 
more  than  the  still,  silent  work  which  is  accomplished 
by  the  diffusion  of  the  knowledge  contained  in  his  books, 
—  though  it  extend  from  London  to  San  Francisco, 
and  in  the  other  direction-fco-the  in^eSorTJfTSi^eria,  where 
George  Kennan  found  copies  of  his  writings,  somewhat 
mutilated,  indeed,  by  the  Kussian_cens'oTr  But  the"  power 
which  secures  the  world's  progress  is  assimilative,  and, 
though  conflict  may  be  necessary  to  prepare  the  way,  it  is 
the  silent  and  peaceful  forces  which,  after  all,  convert  the 
nations.  The  influence  of  the  great  philosopher,  though  he 
be  not  a  conspicuous  figure  of  the  political  or  social  life  of 
his  age,  is  pervasive,  stimulating  to  activity,  far-reaching  in 
time,  and  works  powerfully  and  effectively  even  where  we 
are  not  able  to  trace  it. 

Mr.  Spencer's  writings  met  with  neglect,  and  then  con- 
demnation. His  systematic  treatises  were  published  at  his 
own  expense,  and  the  original  plan  adopted  was  of  a  serial 
issued  to  subscribers.  The  publications  did  not  pay,  and 
their  author  was  discouraged  by  the  fact  that  they  were 


Herbert  S/n'iiri-r.  7 

eating  up  his  substance  and  bringing  in  nothing.  The  most 
important  impulse  toward  success  was  given  to  them  by  our 
own  countryman,  Prof.  Edward  L.  Youinans,  who,  as  an 
English  friend  said  to  me,  really  discovered  Spencer.  This 
discovery  was  accomplished,  as  Prof.  Youmans  himself  tells 
us,  through  reading  the  "Principles  of  Psychology."  Of 
this,  even  he  could  make  nothing  at  first,  and  he  threw  it 
aside  with  some  impatience.  But  his  sister,  Miss  Eliza  A. 
Youmans,  took  up  the  discarded  volunie^-xeadr-it  with  care, 
and  told  her  brother  that  it  was  a  new~  revelation  in  phi- 
losophy. In  truth,  then,  we  ought  to  say  it  was  Miss  You- 
mans who_discoyered  Spencer.  H£r-fcrrother,  however,  soon 
came  to  realize  the  importance  of  the  discovery,  and  did 
quite  enough  to  vindicate  his  claim  to  a  partner's  share  of 
the  credit.  He  interested  himself  practically  in  promoting 
the  circulation  of  Mr.  Spencer's  works.  The  Messrs.  Ap- 
pleton,  through  his  efforts,  took  up  their  publication,  and 
for  the  first  time  a  character  and  standing  were  given  to 
them,  in  some  degree  commensurate  with  their  importance. 

Little  by  little  recognition  came,  until  by-and-by  it 
dawned  upon  the  thinking  world  that  Herbert  Spencer  was 
the  foremost  philosopher  of  his  day.  It  is  gratifying  to 
know  that,  after  a  while,  his  books  began  to  yield  him  an 
income  (though  by  no  means  a  large  one),  and  this  is  the 
case  at  the  present  time.* 

Mr.  Spencer  is  &  bachelor.  Evidently  he  has  had  no 
time  to  get  married.  He  was  not,  however,  a  recluse,  till 
obliged  to  be  by  the  exigences  of  his  work  and  the  neces- 
sity of  caring  for  his  health.  In  1879  I  missed  the  pleas- 
ure of  meeting  him  at  a  dinner  party,  because,  as  he  wrote, 
he  had  engaged  to  take  two  ladies  to  the  opera  that  evening. 
Observe  that  he  took  two  ladies ;  he  knew  how  to  protect 
himself;  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  philosophers  are 
never  practical !  He  has  always  entered  into  social  life  as 

*  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  Mr.  Spencer  was  ever  in  a  condition  of  pov- 
erty. He  saw,  however,  that  his  expenditures  for  the  publication  of  his  works 
would  necessarily  soon  exhaust  his  means,  and  was  distressed,  not  on  account 
of  immediate  wants,  but  with  the  prospect  of  having  to  abandon  his  cherished 
undertaking.  The  exact  circumstances  of  the  rendering  of  American  assistance 
for  the  completion  of  his  works  were  set  forth  in  a  letter  written  by  Prof.  You- 
inans to  the  .AV"-  }'(>/•/.-  TrUiuiir,  in  June,  l.ST'J.  About  $7000  was  raised  by 
American  friends  for  this  purpose.  The  amount  was  accepted  by  Mr.  Spencer, 
"as  a  trust  to  be  used  for  public  ends,"  and  was  employed  chiefly  to  defray  the 
expenses  attendant  upon  the  compilation  of  the  tables  of  the  "Descriptive  So- 
ciology." 


8  Herbert  Spencer. 

much  as  he  could  without  interfering  with  his  work,  and 
has  been  a  welcome  and  an  agreeable  guest  in  many  house- 
holds. 

His  most  regular  associations  of  this  sort  have  been  at 
the  Athenaeum  Club,  which  is  instituted,  in  the  language  of 
its  constitution,  "  for  the  association  of  individuals  known 
for  their  scientific  or  literary  attainments,  artists  of  em- 
inence in  any  class  of  fine  arts,  and  noblemen  and  gentlemen 
distinguished  as  liberal  patrons  of  science,  literature  or  the 
arts."  The  Athenaeum  gives  the  privileges  of  its  home  to 
such  non-residents  as  its  Committee  of  Invitation  may 
select,  for  the  period  of  their  sojourn  in  London.  If  I  may 
be  pardoned  personal  references,  it  was  my  good  fortune  to 
be  honored  with  this  limited  membership  at  one  time,  and, 
happening  to  be  writing  home  to  a  gentleman  who  was  an 
editor,  I  mentioned  various  items  regarding  my  stay  in  Lon- 
don, among  others  my  frequenting  the  Athenaeum.  To  off- 
set any  possible  suggestion  to  his  mind  that  I  spoke  of  this 
from  motives  of  vanity,  I  put  in  my  letter,  with  the  proper 
quotation-marks  and  exclamation-point,  the  jocose  remark 
of  an  English  friend  in  describing  the  Club,  that  it  was 
"  composed  of  distinguished  people  at  home  and  less-distin- 
guished people  from  abroad."  I  think  my  correspondent 
must  have  been  of  Scotch  ancestry:  but,  whatever  may 
have  been  his  pedigree,  my  feelings  may  be  imagined  when 
I  afterwards  saw,  in  my  friend's  paper,  a  paragraph  setting 
forth  seriously,  and  without  the  quotation-marks  and  excla- 
mation-point, that  "  Mr.  D.  G.  Thompson  had  been  elected 
a  member  of  the  Athenaeum  in  London,  a  Club  which  is 
composed  of  distinguished  people  at  home  and  less-distin- 
guished people  from  abroad  "  ! 

The  Athenaeum  includes  people  of  all  sorts  of  opinions. 
Men  are  there  of  as  wide  differences  in  religion  as  are  ex- 
emplified in  Cardinal  Manning  and  Frederick  Harrison ; 
or  in  politics  as  in  Lord  Salisbury,  Earl  Selborne  and  Jo- 
seph Chamberlain.  It  naturally  follows,  especially  when 
we  consider  that  the  membership  of  the  Club  is  twelve 
hundred,  that  social  intercourse  within  its  pale  lies  in  groups 
formed  according  to  affiliations  proceeding  from  sympathies 
in  ideas,  or  in  work.  Mr.  Spencer's  friends  are  chiefly  those 
in  scientific  or  philosophical  pursuits,  among  whom  Huxley 
and  Tyndall  are  the  most  intimate.  It  is  his  usual  habit  to 
visit  the  Club-house  every  day  about  three  o'clock.  Al- 


Spencer.  9 

though  the  library  and  study  rooms  afford  facilities  for  work 
he  rarely  uses  them  for  that  purpose,  his  hours  at  the  Club 
being  devoted  to  relaxation  and  recreation.  Billiards  con- 
stitute his  favorite  amusement,  and  he  generally  is  found, 
with  his  coat  oft',  in  the  room  assigned  for  that  sport,  when 
the  visitor  sends  the  hall-boy  to  seek  him.  Whether  he 
plays  well,  or  ill,  I  do  not  know ;  but  such  men  are  not  apt 
to  make  a  failure  of  anything  they  attempt,  and  it  is  cred- 
itable to  be  excellent  in  billiards  if  one  chooses  to  play  the 
game.  Besides,  if  one  is  able  to  win,  it  is  usually  a  saving 
of  expense  ! 

Mr.  Spencer  is  a  ready  conversationalist,  very  accurate 
and  exact  in  his  expressions.  As  Dr.  Hooker  once  said  to 
Professor  Youmans,  "  He  talks  like  a  book."  This  charac- 
teristic does  not  strike  one  as  pedantry,  and  is  by  no  means 
unpleasant,  though  it  puts  the  interlocutor  on  his  guard  re- 
specting carelessness  in  his  own  words.  He  is  at  home  on 
all  topics  of  current  interest,  as  well  as  on  those  specially 
appertaining  to  his  studies.  He  is  a  keen  critic,  but  not 
censorious,  nor  does  he  seem  to  entertain  or  cherish  animos- 
ities. Nevertheless  he  is  very  combative ;  too  much  so  for 
his  own  good.  He  is  fond  of  striking  back  at  his  critics, 
and  has  more  than  once  turned  aside  from  his  work  to  take 
notice  of  strictures  upon  his  views,  when  there  was  little 
utility  in  so  doing.  His  controversy  with  Frederick  Harri- 
son is  a  case  in  point.  However  interesting  this  may  be  to 
readers,  it  after  all  seems  a  waste  of  words.  The  position 
of  neither  thinker  was  made  any  clearer,  nor  was  either 
converted  by  the  other.  Nor,  I  presume,  was  any  one  else 
converted  by  either,  while  much  of  Mr.  Spencer's  supreme- 
ly valuable  time  was  consumed  in  preparing  the  letters. 
The  latter  has  that  genuinely  British  trait  of  character  which 
causes  a  man  to  stand  up  for  his  rights,  and  to  resist  what 
he  deems  aggression.  Prof.  Youmans  says  he  was  a  dis- 
obedient boy  sometimes,  and  that  he  never  would  stand  bul- 
lying at  school.  No  more  will  he  stand  it  in  the  journals 
and  reviews.  His  sensitiveness  to  invasions  upon  his  per- 
sonality subjected  him  to  sore  trials  upon  his  visit  to 
America.  Prof.  Youmans,  however,  managed  him  well, 
and  was  a  happy  mediator  between  the  sick  man  who  want- 
ed to  be  let  alone,  and  the  impatient  public  anxious  to  see 
and  hear  the  philosopher  they  honored.  The  interviewer's 
attempts  were  disagreeable,  persistence  in  proffered  hospi- 


10  Jlvrbert 

tality  on  tlie  part  of  new  acquaintances  was  annoying ;  but 
what  drove  him  nearly  frantic  was  the  desire  of  people,  in 
some  places  manifested,  to  look  at  him  as  they  would  look 
at  a  fine  animal  at  the  agricultural  fair.  The  culmination 
of  this  latter  outrage  was  reached,  I  regret  to  say,  in  my 
native  State, —  at  Burlington,  Vermont,  the  home  of  Minis- 
ter Phelps  and  Senator  Edmunds.  His  arrival  having  been 
announced  in  the  daily  paper,  quite  a  number  of  people 
called  to  pay  their  respects,  and  a  little  demonstration  in 
his  honor  was  threatened.  Mr.  Spencer  however,  tired  and 
ill,  had  gone  to  his  room,  leaving  orders  that  he  could  see 
no  one  and  must  not  be  disturbed.  The  people  would  not 
be  appeased,  and  to  his  great  horror  a  party  of  them  went 
to  his  door,  knocked,  and,  when  it  was  opened,  told  him 
that  they  had  come  to  see  him  and  see  him  they  would. 
His  traveling  companion  remonstrated,  but  they  were  many 
and  Mr.  Spencer  had  no  gun.  They  took  their  look  and  de- 
parted, but  of  conversation  they  had  none.  You  may  force 
a  horse  to  the  water,  but  you  cannot  make  him  drink.  No 
wonder  that,  after  this,  Mr.  Spencer  came  to  entertain  a  fear 
respecting  the  permanency  of  our  institutions,  and  to  re- 
mark, concerning  our  people,  "The  American  has  not,  I 
think,  a  sufficiently  quick  sense  of  his  own  claims,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  not  a  sufficiently 
uick  sense  of  the  claims  of  others, —  for  the  two  traits  are 
organically  related.  I  observe  that  you  tolerate  various 
small  interferences  and  dictations  which  Englishmen  are 
prone  to  resist.  I  am  told  that  the  English  are  remarked 
on  for  their  tendency  to  grumble  in  such  cases ;  and  I  have 
no  doubt  it  is  true." 

"  Do  you  think  it  worth  while,"  asks  the  interviewer,  "  for 
people  to  make  themselves  disagreeable  by  resenting  every 
trifling  aggression  ?  We  Americans  think  it  involves  too 
much  loss  of  time  and  temper,  and  doesn't  pay." 

"Exactly,"  replies  Mr.  Spencer  ;  "  that  is  what  I  mean  by 
character.  It  is  this  easy-going  readiness  to  permit  small 
trespasses,  because  it  would  be  troublesome  or  profitless,  or 
unpopular  to  resist,  which  leads  to  the  habit  of  acquiesence 
in  wrong  and  the  decay  of  free  institutions."  ^ 

One  time,  at  the  Athenaeum  club,  I  was  introduced  by 
Mr.  Spencer  to  Mr.  Matthew  Arnold,  in  the  lunch-room.  I 


'Herbert  Spencer  in  America."    D.  Appleton  &  Co.    1883. 


Herbert  Spencer.  11 

should  like  to  have  been  at  the  next  table  when,  perchance, 
these  two  gentlemen  might  have  sat  down  together  and  dis- 
cussed America  over  a  cut  of  roast  mutton,  a  boiled  potato, 
and  a  spoonful  of  peas  for  each,  with  a  mug  of  stout  and  no 
napkin.  I  would  forgive  the  newspaper  reporter  all  his 
sins,  against  me  at  any  rate,  if  only  he  could  have  been  there 
and  reported  that  conversation.  Much  would  have  been 
said  that  was  true,  dmbtless ;  much  would  have  been  kindly. 
Much,  also,  would  have  been  "  curious  " ;  nor  do  I  imagine 
it  would  have  been  wanting  in  "distinction."  At  the  very 
least  it  would  have  been  "interesting." 

I  have  noticed  a  remarkable  characteristic  of  many  Eng- 
lishmen,—  the  readiness  with  which,  at  little  and  unac- 
customed things,  they  fall  into  that  state  which  is  expressed 
by  the  word  "aghast."  It  is  chiefly  with  respect  to  affairs, 
of  personal  life,  in  which  they  behold  a  difference  of  man- 
ners. Its  first  symptom  is  paralysis;  then  follows  reason- 
ing, from  their  own  stupefaction,  subjectively.  Because  the 
effect  on  them  is  great  they  magnify  the  cause.  I  meet  my 
friend  the  Englishman  one  fine  day  in  summer,  and  say  to 
him,  cheerily,  "  Very  warm  to-day.  A  good  day  for  your 
annual  bath."  Straightway  he  is  struck  "  aghast "  ;  and  thus 
he  communes  with  himself :  "  Yes,  quite  so ;  but  that  is  a 
very  extraordinary  expression;  warm  —  yes;  bath,  yes,  I 
know ;  but  annual  bath ;  what  can  he  mean  ?  He  cannot 
think  I  bathe  but  once  a  year :  he  has  seen  the  bath-tub 
which  I  always  carry  with  my  luggage.  He  had  a  kindly 
and  genial  smile  when  he  said  it.  I  really  am  not  prepared 
to  believe  he  meant  to  insult  me.  But  how  curious !  I 
have  it !  It  must  be  that  there  are  many  Americans  who 
bathe  only  once  a  year.  ""^ut7~if  so7  "how  can  they  keep 
clean  ?  It  is~very,  very  extraordinary.  The  Americans 
are  a  remarkable  people;  but  their  manner  of  address 
seems  to  me  to  be  rather  infelicitous,  don't  you  know.  And 
they  have  not  yet  learned  how  to  live ;  if  they  had  they 
would  not  postpone  their  bath  so  long.  No,  the  Americans 
may  have  done  measurably  well  in  solving  the  political  prob- 
lem, but  it  must  be  allowed  on  all  hands  that  they  have  not 
solved  the  human  problem." 

Mr.  Spencer,  however,  is  very  different  from  the  English- 
man of  the  previous  paragraph.  He  is  far  too  thorough  an 
observer  to  let  his  judgment  of  real  conditions  be  deter- 
mined by  minor  and  adventitious  circumstances.  He  is  by 


12  Herbert  Spencer. 

no  means  an  obtuse  or  narrow  man.  His  opinions  respect- 
ing America  were  much  more  correct  and  substantial  than 
those  of  Mr.  Matthew  Arnold.  The  latter  never  could  get 
below  the  surface.  His  mind  was  critical,  but  not  syn- 
thetic or  constructive.  With  him,  manners  made  the  man; 
and  there  were  no  manners  save  his  own.  He  was  lacking 
in  "  lucidity."  But  Mr.  Spencer's  vision  was  wide,  and  his 
insight  keen.  He  saw  things  in  their  true  proportions,  and 
his  criticisms  upon  our  country  were  received  with  respect 
and  thankfulness. 

It  was  in  February,  1886,  that  I  last  saw  Mr.  Spencer. 
He  had  perceptibly  aged,  and  appeared  feeble.  I  did  not 
tarry  long,  for  I  fancied  conversation  wearied  him.  As  he 
took  my  hand  at  parting,  he  said,  mournfully,  "  Tell  You- 
mans  you  have  seen  me,  that  I  have  not  much  strength  left, 
and  I  shall  never  see  him  again."  What  he  had  in  mind 
was  his  own  decease ;  but  Prof.  Youmans  passed  on  to  the 
majority  before  him.  Since  that  day,  we  have  reports  of  a 
long  illness,  from  which  he  has  partially  recovered.  There 
is  small  likelihood  that  the  "  System  of  Synthetic  Phil- 
osophy "  will  ever  be  completed,  but  Mr.  Spencer's  energy 
is  great  and  he  will  work  as  long  as  work  is  possible. 

Turning,  now,  from  the  author  to  his  productions,  the 
first  thing  to  be  said  —  and  it  should  be  distinctly  under- 
stood as  incontrovertible  —  is  that  Herbert  Spencer  is  the 
father  of  the  jnodernphilosophy  of  _eyolutionT  The  impres- 
sion still  exists  "tKart)ar win  is  entitled  to  that  honor.  This 
is  a  mistake,  which  the  application  of  the  term  "Darwin- 
ism" to  that  philosophy  has  helped  to  perpetuate.  The 
"  Origin  of  Species  "  was  first  published  in  November,  1859. 
Mr.  Spencer's  Psychology,  it  will  be  remembered,  appeared 
in  1857.  This  last  was  preceded  by  several  essays  outlin- 
ing the  doctrine  of  evolution,  the  earliest  of  which  dates 
from  1852.  To  one  of  these,  "  The  Development  Hypoth- 
esis," Mr.  Darwin  refers  in  the  Introduction  to  the  "  Origin 
of  Species."  But  the  "Principles  of  Psychology,"  which 
is  an  integral  part  of  Mr.  Spencer's  philosophy,  and  which 
exhibits  the  doctrine  of  evolution  as  it  stands  to-day,  had 
been  published  two  years  before  Darwin's  first  great  work 
appeared. 

This,  however,  is  by  no  means  all.    In  its  subject-matter . 
Evolution  is  not  "  Darwinism,"  but  a  natural  law  of  much 
broader  scope.    The  former  shows  that,  universally  through- 


Herbert  Swncer.  13 


out  nature,  change  is  governed  by  a  principle  according  to 
which  there  is  a  course  of  integration  of  forces  from  indef- 
initeness,  simplicity,  and  homogeneity  in  their  relations,  to 
definiteness,  complexity,  and  heterogeneity.  When  evolu- 
tion, proceeding  in  this  way,  ceases,  a  reverse  movement  of 
dissolution  begins.  This  law  applies  to  inorganic  and  or- 
ganic nature  alike.  Darwin's  Natural  Selection  is  an  expres- 
sion of  the  manner  in  which  evolution  accomplishes  the  de- 
velopment of  vegetal  and  animal  life,  showing  how  species  ; 
are  formed,  distributed,  modified,  perpetuated  and  destroyed.  3( 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that,  while  Mr.  Spencer  thought  out 
and  presented  the  whole  philosophy  of  evolution,  Darwin's 
work  was  special  and  limited.  That  it  was  a  great  work  I 
am  certainly  not  disposed  to  deny,  but  I  think  we  ought  to 
understand  exactly  what  it  was.  It  cannot  better  be  ex- 
pressed than  in  an  estimate  by  Geo.  J.  Eomanes,  published 
in  Nature.  "The  few  general  facts  out  of  which  the  theory 
of  evolution  by  natural  selection  is  formed,  namely,  struggle 
for  existence,  survival  of  the  fittest,  and  heredity,  were  all 
previously  well-known  facts.  .  .  .  But  the  greatness  of  Mr. 
Darwin,  as  the  reformer  of  biology,  is  not  to  be  estimated 
by  the  fact  that  he  conceived  the  idea  of  natural  selection ; 
his  claim  to  everlasting  memory  rests  upon  the  many  years 
of  devoted  labor  whereby  he  tested  this  idea  in  all  conceiv- 
able ways  —  amassing  facts  from  every  department  of  sci- 
ence, balancing  evidence  with  the  soundest  judgment,  shirk- 
ing no  difficulty,  and  at  last  astonishing  the  world  as  with 
a  revelation  by  publishing  the  completed  proof  of  evolution. 
...  In  the  chapter  of  accidents,  therefore,  it  is  a  singularly 
fortunate  co-incidence  that  Mr.  Darwin  was  the  man  to  whom 
the  idea  of  natural  selection  occurred ;  for  although,  in  a 
generation  or  two,  the  truth  of  evolution  might  have  become 
more  and  more  forced  upon  the  belief  of  science,  and  with 
it  the  acceptance  of  natural  selection  as  an  operating  cause, 
in  our  own  generation  this  could  only  have  been  accom- 
plished in  the  way  that  it  was  accomplished ;  we  required 
one  such  exceptional  mind  as  that  of  Darwin,  to  focus  the 
facts  and  show  the  method." 

Mr.  Spencer's  practical  philosophy  has  been  pretty  fully 
set  forth  in  his  "Data of  Ethics,"  and  in  his  various  essays. 
In  ethics  he  holds  that  conduct  should  be  estimated  and 
governed  by  the  rule  of  the  highest  utility,  but  believes 
that  an  ideal  social  state,  involving  an  ideal  development  of 


14  Herbert  Spencer. 

character,  should  always  be  kept  before  the  mind  as  a  stand- 
jir4>  to  furnish  that  "counsel  of  perfection75  which  his  op- 
ponent, Green,  urges  as  necessary  though  from  an  entirely 
different  point  of  view.  This  ideal  morality  is  likely  to  be 
realized  in  the  course  of  evolution,  but  until  there  is  reached 
such  a  state  of  society  as  to  make  it  practicable  we  must 
also  recognize  a  code  of  relative  ethics  by  which  to  conform 
our  actions  to  our  circumstances,  and  aid,  so  far  as  those 
circumstances  will  allow,  the  progress  of  mankind  to  the 
most  perfect  conditions.  This  code  will  involve  a  varying 
\  compromise  between  egoism  and  altruism.  Mr.  Spencer 
thinks  the  antagonism  between  these  two  will  eventually 
disappear,  because  the  working  of  social  forces  must  inev- 
/itably  produce  the  result  that  men  will  increasingly  find 
•their  happiness  in  the  welfare  of  others.  Their  egoistic 
'^gratifications  will  become  sympathetic.  Their  highest  self- 
ish delight  will  merely  be  the  lust  of  making  other  people 
delighted.  In  a  word,  indiyMuaj^happiness  will  only  be 
complete  iiLj&e_Jigj3ial  happiness^ MrTTSpencer  is  surely 
right  in  this  view.  We  never  can  wholly  eliminate  self-re- 
garding ends.  Our  own  action  must  ultimately  be  directed 
to  securing  our  own  pleasure  and  preventing  pain  to  our- 
selves. But  it  is  quite  possible  for  us  to  so  form  our  char- 
acters that  our  highest  pleasure  is  the  pleasure  and  welfare 
of  others ;  and  in  the  measure  that  this  is  completely  achieved 
is  the  conciliation  between  egoism  and  altruism  perfected. 
^"Our  author's  political  philosophy  is  as  radically  individ- 
ualistic as  that  of  William  von  Humboldt.  He  believes  in 
the  minimum  of  govejnmp.nt;jirifl  is  uncoiiTpromisingly  op- 
posed to  all  the  socialistic  tendencleT^Ohe^fcime.  With 
the  militant  regimes  of  continental  Europe  he  has  no  sym- 
pathy, and  in  the  industjd^i-Cixtabijiations  that  seek  to  build 
up  strong  organizations  for  the  purposes  of  domination  and 
dictation  he  beholds  an  equally  pernicious  despotism.  Mr. 
Spencer  would  no  doubt  be  a  Mugwump  in  politics  any- 
where. He  would  not  supporfc^oliticjJjna.chmes,  nor  would 
he  favorL£oncentration  or  centralization  of  power.  He  car- 
ries to  an  extreme  the  laissez-faire  doctrine.  With  him 
society  is  always  "a  growth,  not  a  manufacture,"  and  he 
deems  that  attempts  at  regulation  beyond  the  necessities  of 
security  are  obstructive  of  social  progress,  because  they  in- 
terfere with  the  natural  growth  which  is  the  thing  needed, 


\ 


Herbert  Spencer.  15 

and  which  can  only  proceed  from  the  exercise  of  individual 
spontaneity  and  freedom.  ^ 

This  principle  has  been  misapplied  in  one  important  par- 
ticular, as  it  seems  to  me.  Mr.  Spencer's  views  of  the  lim-\ 
itation  of  the  functions  of  government  lead  him  to  the  notion  1 
that  the  State  should  have  nothing  to  do  with  education,  I 
which,  he  thinks,  should  be_accomplished  entirelyj)y  private  / 
age?ncy_._  Schools  mainj;ainj5dj^ 

by  governmental  adrnlmstraHon,  shoiild-be-doKe^away  with. 
The  f imdameirEaT~mistake  JiereTis  an  error  of  omission. 
Those  who  hold  these  ideas  fail  to  perceive  that  education 
is  necessary  as  a  measure  of  security.  Though  they  may 
see  that  the  root  of  all  evil  lies  in  the  character  of  men, 
they  do  not  appreciate  that  mere  negative  prohibition  is 
not  enough  to  secure  that  free  and  full  development  of  in- 
dividuals upon  which  they  lay  so  much  stress.  There  must 
be  placed  over  human  beings,  in  early  life,  such  a  discipline 
of  the  will  and  of  the  intellect  as  to  develop  the  social  in 
opposition  to  the  selfish  disposition.  This  is  by  far  the 
hiost  certain  means  of  preserving  the  peace.  And  if  the 
ideal  of  the  perfect  State  be  a  community  where  there  is 
little  or  no  government,  such  an  ideal  can  only  be  realized 
by  the  creation  of  a  predominantly  altruistic  character  in 
individuals.  How,  then,  are  we  justified  in  saying,  when 
we  allow  that  government  exists  for  the  purpose  of  secur- 
ing people  in  their  freedom,  that  we  ought  to  neglect  those 
means  which  are  evidently  the  most  efficient  for  the  desired 
end?  For  security's  sake^ therefore._jthe  State  ought  to 
have  a  care  for  ecTucation,  and  maintain  a  system  of  public 
instruction  and  discipline. 

There  Ts"  little  to  find  fault  with  in  Mr.  Spencer's  notions 
of  the  general  course  which  education  ought  to  take.     He  \ 
asks  the  question,  What  knowledge  is  of  most  worth  ?  and  I 
answers  it  according  to  a  broad  view  of  utilities.     Those y- 
things  which  are  directly  necessary  to  self-preservation  come' 
first :  then  those  indirectly  ministering  to  this  end,  and  to 
the  full  development  of  human  nature.    Physical,  intellect- 
ual and  moral  education  all  have  their  place  in  proper  pro- 
portions.    The  treatise  on  "Education"  probably  has  been 
more  widely  read  than  any  other  of  Mr.  Spencer's  writings, 
and  it  is  likely  to  be  regarded  as  a  classic  on  that  subject 
for  a  long  time  to  come.     It  subordinates  the  sesthetic  to  ^ 


16  Herbert  Spencer. 

the  scientific,  but  it  concedes  the  value  of  the  former  as  a 
supplement  to  scientific  knowledge  and  training. 

Mr.  Spencer's  religious  views  are  readily  discernible  to 
any  one  who  has  read  the  "  First  Principles  "  of  his  philos- 
ophy. Supernatural  revelations  he  rejects  ;  but  to  say  that 
his  scheme  has  no  place  for  religion  would  be  a  gross  mis- 
statement.  He  makes  all  nature  dependent  upon  and  the 
outcome  of  a  Power  which  is  not  and  cannot  be  known,  but 
whose  existence  must  ever  be  postulated.  Toward  this 
Power,  faith  may  turn,  but  what  it  is  must  forever  transcend 
our  knowledge  ;  and  respecting  its  nature  or  attributes,  those 
relating  to  personality  included,  no  affirmations  or  denials 
can  be  made.  This  is  strictly  Agnostic  doctrine,  and  it  pre- 

Isents  to  us  the  famous  "  Unknowable,"  respecting  which  so 
much  has  been  said. 

If  the  term  be  used  absolutely,  "  Unknowable  "  is  not  a 
proper  characterization.  To  be  able  to  affirm  that  it  exists, 
implies  some  knowledge  of  it ;  and  it  is  a  contradiction  to 
declare  that  anything  which  can  be  made  an  object  of  cog- 
nition is  unknowable.  In  a  relative  sense,  however,  the  term 
may  be  used  to  mean  something  existing,  but  beyond  the 
reach  of  further  objectincation,  or  of  cognition  by  human  in- 
telligence as  we  have  experience  of  it.  This,  no  doubt,  is 
what  Mr.  Spencer  intends.  The  true  statement  is  that  we 
know  the  existence  of  an  Ultimate  Reality  which  is  known 
as  such  but  not  otherwise  known. 

Here  is  our  philosopher's  creed,  in  a  passage  from  "  First 
Principles":  "Thus  the  consciousness  of  an  Inscrutable 
Power,  manifested  to  us  through  all  phenomena,  has  been 
growing  ever  clearer ;  and  must  eventually  be  freed  from 
its  imperfections.  The  certainty  that  on  the  one  hand  such 
a  Power  exists,  while  on  the  other  hand  its  nature  trans- 
cends intuition  and  is  beyond  imagination,  is  the  certainty 
towards  which  intelligence  has  from  the  first  been  progress- 
/  ing.  To  this  conclusion  science  inevitably  arrives  as  it 
reaches  its  confines ;  while  to  this  conclusion  religion  is  ir- 
resistably  driven  by  criticism.  And  satisfying,  as  it  does, 
the  demands  of  the  most  rigorous  logic  at  the  same  time  that 
it  gives  the  religious  sentiment  the  widest  possible  sphere 
of  action,  it  is  the  conclusion  we  are  bound  to  accept  without 
reserve  or  qualification." 

Let  us  also  note  the  following  passages  showing  the  true 
relationship  of  religion  and  science  : 


Herlrrt  Sencer  17 


"  In  religion  let  us  recognize  the  high  merit  that  from  the 
beginning  it  has  dimly  discerned  the  ultimate  verity,  and 
has  never  ceased  to  insist  upon  it.  ...  From  the  first  the 
recognition  of  this  supreme  verity,  in  however  imperfect  a 
manner,  has  been  its  vital  element  ;  and  its  various  defects,. 
once  extreme  but  gradually  diminishing,  have  been  so  many 
failures  to  recognize  in  full  that  which  is  recognized  in  part. 
The  truly  religious  element  of  religion  has  always  been 
good;  that  which  has  proved  untenable  in  doctrine  and 
vicious  in  practice  has  been  its  irreligious  element  :  and 
from  this  it  has  been  ever  undergoing  purification. 

"And  now  observe  that,  all  along,  the  agent  which  has 
effected  the  purification  has  been  science.  We  habitually 
overlook  the  fact  that  this  has  been  one  of  its  functions. 
Religion  ignores  its  immense  debt  to  science  :  and  science 
is  scarcely  at  all  conscious  how  much  religion  owes  it.  Yet 
it  is  demonstrable  that  every  step  by  which  religion  has  pro- 
gressed from  its  first  low  conception  to  the  comparatively 
high  one  it  has  now  reached,  science  has  helped  it,  or  rather 
forced  it,  to  take  :  and  that  even  now  science  is-urging  fur- 
ther steps  in  the  sajne  jjjrection  .....  Otherwise  contem- 
plating the  f  aiibs^jvvamay  say  thatrejigion  and  science  Iiave 
been  undergoing  a  slow  differentiation  ;  andTthaTtheir  cease- 
less conflicts  have  beeriTdue  to  tne  imperfect  separation  of 
their  spheres  and  functions.  Religion  has,  from  the  first, 
struggled  to  unite  more  or  less  science  with  its  nescience  ; 
science  has,  from  the  first,  kept  hold  of  more  or  less  nes- 
cience as  though  it  were  a  part  of  science.  Each  has  been 
obliged  gradually  to  relinquish  that  territory  which  it  wrong- 
fully claimed,  while  it  has  gained  from  the  other  that  to 
which  it  had  a  right  ;  and  the  antagonism  between  them  has 
been  an  inevitable  accompaniment  of  this  process  .....  So 
long  as  the  process  of  differentiation  is  incomplete  more  or 
less  of  antagonism  must  continue.  Gradually,  as  the  limits 
of  possible  cognition  are  established,  the  causes  of  conflict 
will  diminish.  And  a  permanent  peace  will  be  reached 
when  science  becomes  fully  convinced  that  its  explanations 
are  proximate  and  relative  ;  while  religion  becomes  fully 
convinced  that  the  mystery  it  contemplates  is  ultimate  and 
absolute."  (Part  L,  Chap.  V.) 

These,  in  barest  outline,  are  some  of  the  things  that  Her- 
bert Spencer  has  begun  to  teach  the  human  race.  The 
fields  of  knowledge  are  wide,  and  many  have  been  the  la- 


18  Herbert  Spencer. 

borers  therein.  We  appreciate  and  admire  the  work  of  the 
scientist  who  increases  the  stock  of  human  learning  in  any 
of  its  departments.  Agassiz,  Darwin,  Huxley,  Tyndall,  Wal- 
lace, and  all  the  host  of  them,  awaken  our  gratitude  and 
command  our  reverence.  But  though  we  have  traveled 
much  in  these  realms  of  gold, 

"And  many  goodly  states  and  kingdoms  seen," 

profounder  emotions  are  stirred  when  we  contemplate  Mr. 
Spencer  and  his  work.  We  think  no  longer  of  the  ingen- 
ious mechanisms  and  marvelous  adaptations  of  nature ;  the 
wonderful  order,  the  many  beauties,  the  curious  things  re- 
vealed and  displayed  for  our  observation  and  study.  Bath- 
er, it  seems  as  if  barriers  were  suddenly  thrown  down,  and 
a  vision  opened  of  boundless  knowledge  and  exhaustless 
being.  Then,  our  past  experience  becomes  merely  the  arch 
where-thro' 

"  Gleams  that  untraveled  world  whose  margin  fades 
Forever  and  forever  when  we  move." 

Then  feel  we,  rather, 

"Like  some  watcher  of  the  skies 
When  a  new  planet  swims  into  his  ken." 

Or,  again,  like  Cortes, 

"When  with  eagle  eyes 
He  stood  at  the  Pacific,  and  all  his  men 
Looked  at  each  other  with  a  wild  surmise, 
Silent  upon"  that  "peak  in  Darien."* 


*  Besides  what  conies  from  the  personal  knowledge  of  the  writer,  the  author- 
ity for  statements  of  facts  in  the  foregoing  essay  may  be  found  in  two  articles 
on  Herbert  Spencer  and  his  works  in  the  "Popular  Science  Monthly,"  one  in 
the  issue  of  November,  1874,  the  other  in  the  issue  of  March,  187G,  both  by  the 
late  Prof.  Edward  L.  Youmans,  and  also  in  the  paper  entitled  "Herbert  Spen- 
cer and  the  Doctrine  of  Evolution,"  in  Gazelles'  "Evolution  Philosophy,"  pub- 
lished by  D.  Appleton  &  Co.  in  1875.  The  writer  wishes  furthermore  to  ac- 
knowledge his  indebtedness  to  Miss  Eliza  A.  Youmans  for  several  valuable 
suggestions. 


Herbert  Spencer.  19 

ABSTRACT    OF    THE    DISCUSSION. 

MR.  JAMES  A.  SKILTOX  :  — 

Before  entering  upon  the  discussion  of  the  admirable  essay  of 
Mr.  Thompson,  I  may  be  permitted,  having  had  little  or  nothing 
to  do  with  its  preparation,  to  congratulate  you  on  this  splendid 
j»i  ooramme  of  Essays  and  Readings  upon  the  subject  of  Evolution. 
It  may  seem  too  much  to  say  at  this  time,  but  I  believe  it  will  give 
a  great  impulse  to  the  study  of  Evolution  in  the  Christian  church 
and  elsewhere  in  America,  and  may  produce  effects  now  expected 
by  few.  Personally  holding  this  opinion  with  tenacity  and  en- 
tire conviction,  I  might  nevertheless  not  be  willing  to  express 
it  here  and  now  if  I  stood  alone  in  entertaining  it.  But  I  am 
made  bold  to  utter  it  by  the  fact  that  I  am  in  possession  of  the 
opinion  of  the  Master  himself  on  the  subject,  as  expressed  in  the 
letter  which  I  will  now  read : 

"The  Nook,  Horsham  Road,  Dorking, 
"Dear  Sir:  24th  July,  1888. 

"I  am  obliged  by  your  letter  of  July  llth,  with  its  enclosures. 
I  am  glad  to  say,  and  you  will  perhaps  be  glad  to  hear,  that  I  am 
considerably  better  than  when  I  gave  to  Dr.  W.  J.  Youmans  the 
impression  you  quote.  Leaving  London  in  a  very  low  state  about 
a  month  ago,  I  have  since  improved  greatly,  and  am  now  in  hopes 
of  getting  back  to  something  like  the  low  level  of  health  which  I 
before  had,  though  I  scarcely  expect  to  reach  that  amount  of  work- 
ing power  which  has  been  usual  with  me. 

"  The  information  contained  in  your  letter  was,  I  need  hardly 
say,  gratifying  to  me  both  on  personal  and  on  public  grounds. 
The  spread  of  the  doctrine  of  Evolution,  first  of  all  in  its  limited 
acceptation  and  now  in  its  wider  acceptation,  is  alike  surprising 
and  encouraging;  and  doubtless  the  movement  now  to  be  initiated 
by  the  lectures  and  essays  set  forth  in  your  programme  will 
greatly  accelerate  its  progress  —  especially  if  full  reports  of  your 
proceedings  can  be  circulated  in  a  cheap  printed  form.  The  mode 
of  presentation  described  seems  to  me  admirably  adapted  for  pop- 
ularizing evolution  views,  and  it  will,  I  think,  be  a  great  pity  if  the 
effect  of  such  a  presentation  should  be  limited  to  a  few  listeners 
in  Brooklyn. 

"Wishing  you  and  your  coadjutors  every  success  in  your  efforts, 

"  I  am,  truly,  yours, 
"Mr.  J.  A.  SKILTON."  "HERBERT  SPENCER." 


20  Herbert  Spencer. 

Happening  to  have  in  my  possession  early  in  the  summer  an  ad- 
vance copy  of  your  programme,  it  occurred  to  me  that  it  might 
be  to  Mr.  Spencer  a  comfort  and  a  consolation,  if  not  an  aid  to  a 
renewal  of  strength,  to  learn  what  you  were  proposing  to  do;  and 
I  therefore  sent  him  a  copy  of  the  programme,  together  with  a  let- 
ter of  cordial  sympathy;  to  which  the  letter  just  read  is  his  reply. 
I  subsequently  learned,  from  Mr.  W.  R.  Hughes  of  Birmingham, 
the  President  of  the  Sociological  Section  of  one  of  them,  that  Mr. 
Spencer  had  caused  the  programme  and  my  letter  to  be  forwarded 
to  societies  in  England  and  France  engaged  in  the  study  and  ad- 
vancement of  Evolution  Philosophy,  as  matter  of  interest  to 
European  Evolutionists. 

In  listening  with  pleasure  to  the  essay  of  the  evening,  I  have 
found  but  one  statement  open  to  criticism.  It  seems  to  me  we 
may  believe  the  world  has  been  blessed  in  that  Mr.  Spencer  was  not 
biased  by  a  thorough  academical  education,  but  was  left  to  the 
natural  development  of  his  intellectual  powers  untrammeled  by 
direct  and  overmastering  academic  influences.  His  refusal  to  ac- 
cept the  alleged  privileges  and  opportunities  of  such  an  education 
while  yet  a  mere  boy,  marks,  to  my  mind,  the  early  self-recogni- 
tion of  those  splendid  natural  powers  by  which  the  world  has 
been  already  greatly  benefited,  and  will  continue  to  be  benefited 
throughout  the  ages.  I  make  only  a  passing  allusion  to  this  sub- 
ject, which  it  would  be  out  of  place  to  discuss  here  at  length ;  but 
I  may  be  permitted  to  say  that  the  history  of  the  development  of 
the  mind  and  philosophy  of  Herbert  Spencer  is  most  instructive 
and  interesting;  that  the  great  advances  in  the  thought  and  work 
of  the  world  are  almost  never  made  by  those  of  the  "guild,"  and 
that  we  should  probably  have  marred  rather  than  mended  if  we 
could  have  had  it  otherwise. 

The  time  allotted  me  permits  mention  of  only  two  or  three  inci- 
dents in  that  history.  Examination  of  the  original  English  edi- 
tion of  "Social  Statics,"  published  in  1850,  discloses  to  us  the 
action  of  a  mind  as  yet  dominated  by  its  intellectual  environ- 
ment; the  facts  presented,  the  line  of  thought  pursued,  and 
the  method  of  treatment  adopted,  being  such  as  many  of  his  con- 
temporaries might  naturally  have  employed  in  dealing  with  the 
subject.  We  find  in  that  work  little  of  the  promise  of  the  splendid 
fruitage  we  have  already  garnered  from  his  subsequent  works, 
except  that  derivable  from  the  exhibition  of  transparent  intellect- 
ual honesty  and  love  of  truth.  Turning  thence  to  the  American 
edition  of  "Social  Statics,"  published  by  the  Appletons  in  1865, 
we  find  that  Spencer  consented  with  reluctance  to  its  publication 


21 

unchanged,  and  with  prefatory  qualification  of  the  most  impor- 
tant character,  in  the  following  words:  "But  in  restating  them  he 
would  bring  into  greater  prominence  the  transitional  nature  of  all 
political  institutions,  and  the  consequent  relative  goodness  of  some 
arrangements  which  have  no  claims  to  absolute  goodness." 

Between  1850  and  1865,  then,  Mr.  Spencer  had  discovered  the 
vast  and  most  important  difference  between  absolute  and  relative 
morals  and  principles,  a  difference  which  lies  at  the  very  founda- 
tion of  his  entire  system  of  philosophy.  When  and  how  was  he 
led  to  discover  that  difference  ?  Looking  over  the  list  of  his  writ- 
ings, we  note  his  article  on  "Population,"  printed  in  the  ][>*/- 
minster  Review  of  July,  1852.  That  article  commences  with  a 
reference  to  the  Malthusian  Theory  of  Population,  and  quotes  ap- 
provingly the  language  of  a  sagacious  and  benevolent  man,  who 
said  of  it:  "A  time  will  come  when  this  mystery  will  be  unveiled, 
«ind  when  a  beneficent  law  will  be  discovered,  regulating  this  mat- 
ter, in  accordance  with  all  the  rest  that  we  see  of  God's  moral 
government  of  the  world  "  ;  and  forthwith  Mr.  Spencer  proceeds  to 
promulgate  such  a  law.  In  that  article  we  find  recognition  of  that 
difference,  and  accompanying  the  same  an  unmistakable  prophecy 
of  the  beneficent  ethical  philosophy  disclosed  in  the  "Data  of 
Kthirs,"  that  lights  the  way  through  all  the  wilderness  of  his 
work  and  thought  that  lies  between  them. 

It  is  a  matter  of  associated  interest  to  note  that,  according  to 
the  biography  of  Darwin,  written  by  his  son,  it  was  the  reading, 
in  1839,  of  the  "Theory  of  Population,"  by  Mai  thus,  that  gave 
him  also  an  initial  impulse  for  his  splendid  work  in  the  field  of  the 
Struggle  for  Existence  and  Natural  Selection.  It  is  also  of  interest 
to  note  that,  according  to  the  history  of  the  development  of  the 
thought  of  earlier  ages,  substantially  the  same  great  question  and 
collection  of  questions  occupied  the  attention  of  the  great  minds 
concerned  in  laying  the  foundations  of  Judaism  and  Christianity, 
and  whose  action  has  so  powerfully  influenced  the  history  of  the 
world. 

In  these  facts  we  may  at  least  find  warrant  for  the  study  and  in- 
vestigation of  the  Evolution  Philosophy  in  and  through  an  Ethical 
Association  attached  to  a  Christian  church  and  holding  its  sessions 
in  its  place  of  worship. 

i;i:v.  JOHX  W.  CIIADWICK  :  — 

Mr.  Chadwick  expressed  his  pleasure  in  listening  to  the  delight- 
ful essay  by  Mr.  Thompson.  He  presumed  that  in  claiming  for 
Mr.  Spencer  the  paternity  of  the  Evolution  philosophy,  the  essay- 
ist did  not  intend  to  ignore  the  prior  claim  of  Darwin  to  the  con 


22  Herbert  Spencer. 

ception  of  Evolution  or  Development  in  its  biological  aspects. 
Darwin  commenced  the  investigations  which  resulted,  finally,  in 
the  preparation  of  the  "Origin  of  Species,"  twenty  years  prior  to 
its  publication, — before  Mr.  Spencer  had  begun  his  career  as  an 
author.  Mr.  Spencer's  acquaintance  and  friendship  with  "George 
Eliot"  he  also  thought  worthy  of  note. 

As  to  Spencer's  conception  of  the  Absolute  as  Unknowable,  Mr. 
Chad  wick  had  always  felt  that,  even  according  to  Mr.  Spencer's 
own  definitions,  though  unknown  it  was  at  the  same  time  well- 
known.  ;  though  hidden  from  us  in  its  totality  it  was  revealed  in 
the  entire  phenomenal  universe,  where  the  method  of  its  operation 
was  open  to  our  study. 

MR.  THOMAS  GARDNER  :  — 

The  really  essential  features  of  Mr.  Spencer's  system  have  been 
lucidly  presented  by  the  essayist,  and  his  criticism  has  also  been 
judicious.  Although  I  confess  myself  a  devout  follower  of  Mr. 
Spencer,  I  cannot  bring  my  mind  into  subjection_.to  his-vigws  as. 
to  the  powers  and  pm^n^>-^£  g^-^rnjnerit  ?"^  fv.inv  thaf~fha 
"laissez-faire"  system  which  he  ^o-^nnfidpntly-advocates  is  not 
always  the  best  for  a  community  or  nation.  I  think  there  is  not  a 
little  wisdom  in  The  words  of  Edmund  Burke,  when  he  said,  -'Be- 
fore I  congratulate  a  people  on  having  obtained  their  liberty  which 
will  allow  them  to  do  as  they  please,  I  think  it  would  be  well  to 
wait  and  see  what  it  will  please  them  to  do."  I  must  confess  that 
my  bent  of  mind  inclines  me  to  sympathize  more,  in  the  matter  of 
government,  with  the  fervid  aspirations  of  John  Ruskin  than  with 
the  colder  reflections  of  Herbert  Spencer. 

Although  no  one  has  written  on  the  subject  of  ethics  in  a  sim- 
pler and  clearer  manner  than  Mr.  Spencer,  it  has  been  his  fate  to 
be,  whether  wittingly  or  unwittingly,  grossly  and  widely  misun- 
derstood ;  and  it  was  refreshing  to  listen,  to-night,  to  an  exposition 
of  his  views  on  this  crowning  work  of  his  life,  wherein  the  really 
noble  and  tender  sentiment  underlying  Mr.  Spencer's  speculation 
has  been  sympathetically  presented.  I  am  certainly  of  the  opin- 
ion that  the  basis  of  his  philosophy  is  a  profoundly  religious  one, 
and  look  upon  the  attitude  of  the  Agnostic,  when  confronted  with 
the  shadow  of  an  unknowable  and  infinite  deity,  as  pre-eminently 
reverential  and  worshipful.  It  is,  I  think,  beyond  question  that 
all  deep  religious  emotion  finds  its  birthplace  in  a  mystic  region  ; 
and  surely,  in  the  noble  range  of  the  Evolution  philosophy,  there 
is  a  mystic  region  large  enough  to  satisfy  the  aspirations  of  the 
most  devout  dreamer  :  in  fact  it  is  beyond  the  bounds  of  all  time: 
and  space. 


Evolution. 

Popular  Lectures  and  Discussions 

before  the  Brooklyn  Ethical  Association. 
One  vol.,  fine  cloth,  408  pages.    Illustrated. 
Complete  Index.     $2.00,  postpaid. 

OUTLINE   OF   CONTENTS. 

1.  HERBERT   SPENCER:   His   life  and  personal 

characteristics;  his  views  on  education;  his 
religious  opinions.  By  DANIEL  GREENLEAF 
THOMPSON. 

2.  CHARLES  ROBERT  DARWIN:  His  ancestry, 

life  and  personal  characteristics.  By  REV. 
JOHN  \V.  CHADWICK. 

3.  SOLAR     AND      PLANETARY     EVOLUTION: 

How  suns  and  worlds  come  into  being.  Did 
the  material  universe  ever  have  a  beginning? 
By  GARRETT  P.  SERVISS. 

4.  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  EARTH :   The  story  of 

geology ;  how  the  world  grew.  By  DR.  LEWIS 
G.  JANES. 

5.  EVOLUTION  OF  VEGETAL  LIFE :   How  does 

life  begin ;  the  problem  of  spontaneous  gen- 
eration. By  WILLIAM  POTTS. 

6.  EVOLUTION    OF    ANIMAL   LIFE :    The   evi- 

dences from  geology,  geographical  distribu- 
tion and  comparative  zoology.  By  ROSSITER 
W.  RAYMOND,  Ph.D. 

7.  THE  DESCENT  OF  MAN :  Relation  of  man  to 

the  brute  creation;  his  ancestral  line;  dura- 
tion of  human  life  on  the  planet.  By  E.  D. 
COPE,  Ph.D. 

8.  EVOLUTION   OF  MIND:    The   mind   and  the 

nervous  system;  the  nature  of  mind.  By 
ROBERT  G.  ECCLES,  M.D. 

9.  EVOLUTION    OF    SOCIETY.    Primitive  man; 

growth  of  the  family,  city  and  State ;  devel- 
opment of  the  domestic  relations ;  is  society 
an  organism?  By  JAMES  A.  SKILTON,  Esq. 

10.  EVOLUTION  OF   THEOLOGY.    Origin  of   re- 

ligious beliefs  ;  ancestor  worship ;  nature  wor- 
ship ;  the  Absolute.  By  Z.  SYDNEY  SAMPSON. 

11.  EVOLUTION     OF    MORALS.      How    altruism 

grows  out  of  egoism ;  the  proper  balance.  By 
in;.  LEWIS  G.  JANES. 

12.  PROOFS    OF     EVOLUTION:     from    geology, 

morphology,  embryology,  metamorphosis, 
rudimentary  organs,  geographical  distribu- 
tion, discovered  links,  artificial  breeding,  re- 
version, mimicry.  By  NELSON  C.  PARSHALL. 

13.  EVOLUTION  AS   RELATED  TO   RELIGIOUS 

THOUGHT:  the  Unknowable;  design;  mira- 
cle. By  REV.  JOHN  W.  CHADWICK. 

14.  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  EVOLUTION.     Rela- 

tion of  the  doctrine  to  prevailing  philosophi- 
cal systems.  By  STARR  HOYT  NICHOLS. 

15.  THE  EFFECTS  OF  EVOLUTION  ON  THE 

COMING  CIVILIZATION.  Plans  for  social 
regeneration  as  tested  by  evolution.  By 
REV.  MINOT  J.  SAVAGE. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 


This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 
on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 

REC'D  LD 

OICl3'63-12lt 

JAN  0  9  1833 

FEB091398 

1 

J 

•SSJsiM?            u^SS^Sg™,. 

ff 

25  ,94fi 


LD  21-50m-l,'33 


17'  E^S?d  h&WoS'    Byi'RO,.  JOK.  F.SKK. 


| 


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